I don't own the characters of Harry Potter, that would be J. K. Rowling. I don't own the song Red Ragtop, that would be Tim McGraw.
I wrote this some time ago and I really like it so I figured I might as well put it here while I'm working on updates for my other stories.
Draco Malfoy could not recall when or where or how he'd come to meet Amelia Kirkland, but he could remember when he fell in love with her. To that extent, he could also remember when she stopped loving him.
[I was 20 and she was 18
We were just about as wild as we were green
In the ways of the world
She picked me up in that Red Ragtop
We were free of the folks
Hiding from the cops on a summer night
Running all the red lights
We were parked way out in a clearing in a grove
And the night was as hot as a coal burning stove
We were cooking with gas
Knew it had to last]
The Kirklands were a pureblood family through and through. They wanted next to nothing to do with muggles or muggleborns. Amelia was the black sheep, and that was the reason she had the car.
When Draco Malfoy first saw it, he'd sneered. By the end of the summer, he loved and resented it.
The Cabriolet had pulled into the driveway to Malfoy Manor, and Draco had gone out to investigate, highly unamused. When the car had parked and the engine quieted, the driver's door opened and a young girl he didn't recognize stepped out. She wore designer sunglasses, and her hair drifted from the momentum of getting out of her car. When she saw him, she smiled.
"Is this Malfoy Manor?" she asked, slamming her car door shut and approaching him. "I was afraid I'd gotten the address wrong."
"What's it to you?" he asked, palming his wand and watching.
"I was invited over," she replied, brushing past him to get to the front door and into the foyer.
"I don't recall inviting you in," he told her, following her inside.
She waved her hand. "I'm not a Vampire, you know. I don't need invited in."
"What's your name?"
She turned around to face him, sunglasses in her hands and a smile still on her lips. She did not disclose her name just yet. "Not much of a gentleman, are you."
"What?" he seethed, gripping his wand now.
"Amelia, darling. How good of you to join us." His mother descended the stairs, his father trailing behind and looking unimpressed. Narcissa extended her arms to the girl, and Draco watched as she crossed the tiled foyer, being careful not to step on a line of grout. The two embraced, Lucius behind them, bored.
"You're already met Draco, I see," Narcissa continued, now guiding Amelia toward the dining room. The males followed, looking far less enthusiastic.
Amelia had primarily been invited over for lunch, as had the rest of the Kirklands. The rest of the family had been unavailable , and so Amelia had shown up on her own. Maybe that was for the best, Draco thought later on; but then again, maybe not.
After the meal, Amelia had thanked them. She'd hugged them each, placing a kiss on each cheek, and then she'd headed for the door. Draco followed after her, and she was to her car by the time he asked, "Why not just use Floo powder?"
"Seemed like a good day for a drive." She eyed him for a moment and then smiled again. "Would you like to join me, Draco?"
Her carefree smile was starting to get on his nerves. He didn't want to be in a confined space with her. He didn't want to be inches from her with nothing to say. Simply, he didn't want her.
"No, I would not like to join you."
Amelia took no offense, shrugging and sliding her sunglasses into place. She wiggled her fingers at him and said, "I'll see you Sunday, then."
The engine roared into life, and she left.
He did see her Sunday, though. A luncheon was being held by a highly regarded Pureblood family, and both Malfoy and Kirkland parties were in attendance. He was rather too proud to admit it, but even at twenty years of age he was bored to death and welcomed the distraction that Amelia presented.
He met her eye from across the room and gave a smirk. The tilt of her lips was wicked, and she nodded her head to the door before turning and getting lost in the crowd.
He followed her.
She was sitting on the hood of her car, grinning at him. "Would you like to take me up on that drive now, Mr. Malfoy? I assure you I can be far more amusing than the wankers in there if the mood strikes me."
Settled atop her car, green eyes glittering with mischief, she was desirable. She was an Amelia that Draco thought he wouldn't mind having.
"Depends on if the mood has stricken you or not," he said, standing directly in front of her.
"And if it has?"
"Then I'm not going back in there."
Amelia's grin widened and she slid off the hood to stand in front of him, inches away. She stared up at him. "Get in the car, Draco." And then she spun away from him with enough speed to dislodge her hair. It curled around her shoulders, bouncing in uneven spirals and wetting the back of her dress. She had not touched him.
He got in the car.
She buckled her seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition. The engine turned over and caught, growling and shaking the vehicle. Amelia gave him a nasty little smile that he didn't much care for and threw the car into reverse. She spun in a great arc, spitting gravel and nearly throwing Draco from his seat. Then, she punched into drive and hit the gas, the tires spinning to get purchase before throwing the two of them down the driveway.
Draco caught his breath and glared at her. "You're positively mad!"
Amelia shook her head, her loose hair writhing down her back and atop her shoulders. She brushed it back, not caring for the way it tickled her bare skin. He saw her look at him from the corner of her eye. "You really should wear your seatbelt. Other drivers can be real twats."
Draco brought the leather strap across his midsection and clicked it into place. "You'd better not get me killed."
"Why? Have you got a bright future ahead of you?"
He didn't respond for a moment, merely glaring again. She turned her head to look at him no, taking in his offense. Her smile was gone.
"I only ask because I'm not so sure I do," she explained. "I've got an apprenticeship to maybe teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I don't think I'd be very good at it."
Draco rose a brow at her honesty. "And why's that?"
"I don't really fancy children." She turned onto a dirt road, headed for rows upon rows of trees.
They sat in silence for awhile, the bumpy ride coming to an end once they reached a clearing. Amelia drove on grass already flattened by a set of tires, stopping when the tracks did. She turned the car off and got out, sliding onto the hood in her designer dress and leaning back on her windshield.
She looked at him through the glass and patted the hood next to her. He got out of the car, hesitating before he sat beside her.
"Where are we?"
"Does it matter?"
He looked at her, looked at the dirt on her dress, at the way her arms were crossed behind her head. He looked at the twists of her hair and the oblivious smile on her face. Mostly, though, he saw her tired eyes, and he knew she'd found freedom in this clearing.
"No," he said. "I guess it doesn't."
The two were together for hours, watching the sky darken and not saying a word. It was their first night together, but it was certainly not their last.
For the better part of June, Amelia would arrive at Malfoy Manor come dawn to pick Draco up. They'd go to their clearing, doing nothing really productive or beneficial. They would sit on the hood of Amelia's car, watching the sun across the sky. Sometimes they would talk, and sometimes no words would need to be said. She'd return him home well after dark, and then start again the in morning.
It was a Sunday night when the two of them took the next step in their relationship.
[In the back of that Red Ragtop
She said, "Please, don't stop…."]
"Draco," Amelia began, "have you ever thought about freedom?"
"Sometimes," he answered, turning his head to look at her. They were on the hood of her car, lying on their backs.
She turned her head to meet his eye, and she smiled. "I don't think about much else."
"You think about me," he murmured, sliding his hand off his lap and across the hood to thread his fingers through hers. He squeezed the smallest bit and scooted closer to her.
"Do you think about me?" she whispered. Her eyes shut and she lifted her chin. He dipped and their lips met.
She cradled his cheek with her free hand, her fingertips soft on the curve of his jaw. He retreated.
"I always think about you." He sat up on his elbow, looking down into her tanned face, into her pretty green eyes.
Slowly and with purpose, she brought herself up to kiss him again. They sat, lips together, night falling around them. Finally, Amelia pulled away. There was a smile on her lips as she led Draco to the backseat of her car. There, they proceeded to make love for the first time, his name moist on her lips as she begged him not to stop.
[Well the very first time her mother met me
Her green-eyed girl had been a mother-to-be
For two weeks
I was outta the job and she was in school
And life was fast and the world was cruel
We were young and wild
We decided not to have a child
So we did what we did and we tried to forget
And we swore up and down there would be no regrets
In the morning light
But on the way home that night….]
"Do you ever think about freedom, Draco?"
He smiled. "Sometimes."
Amelia sat with her knees hugged to her chest, and she looked at him over her shoulder. There were tears in her eyes, huge and shining.
Draco sat up, scooting over to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Amelia, what's wrong?"
She blubbered and buried her face in his chest, wailing. When she was calm enough to speak, it was only to choke out one word before bursting into sobs again.
He withdrew from her, trying to comprehend what she'd just said. "You mean you're…?"
She nodded, hiccupping. He fell back on the hood, staring at the stars.
"You're pregnant."
"I'm pregnant."
They locked eyes and Amelia slid off the hood. Draco followed, settling into the passenger seat as she started the car. She drove him home, and they sat wordlessly.
The next morning, she showed up just like always.
"I think I should meet your parents," he said once he got in.
She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel and then put the car in reverse. "Alright."
Bailey and Marcus Kirkland were unamused by Draco. They watched him with condenscending eyes and spoke in clipped, no-nonsense voices during his visit. Amelia had to give them credit for being able to be relatively civil.
They were back in their clearing when she confessed, "I don't want to keep it."
"Okay." He wrapped his arm around her as she began to cry again.
They took the next day to schedule and go through with an abortion, paid for in full by the both of them. Before the procedure, as they sat in the waiting room, Amelia extended her pinky to him.
"Promise me no regretting this," she whispered.
"I promise," he said, hooking her pinky with his. "No regrets."
Her name was called.
[In the back of that Red Ragtop
She said, "Please, don't stop…
Loving me."]
"Draco…?"
"Yeah, Amelia?"
She looked up at him, her green eyes wide and sparkling with tears in the dark.
"Never stop loving me, okay?"
It seemed like a ridiculous request. Love wasn't something he could just guarantee to her. Bloody Hell, he wasn't even sure he did love her.
… But he did. He'd loved her from the first time she'd brought him to the clearing, from the first time she'd let him see the freedom in her eyes.
Her voice wavered. "Draco?"
"I can never stop loving you, Amelia."
Funny that she never said those words to him.
[We took one more trip
Around the sun
But it was all make believe in the end
No, I can't say where she is today
I can't remember who I was back then
Well you do what you do
And you pay for your sins
And there's no such thing as what might've been
That's a waste of time
Drive you out of your mind]
It was the middle of August, and looking back, Draco Malfoy thought he should've seen it coming.
"Do you think about freedom, Draco?" Amelia posed the question without real curiosity; merely going through the motions. She looked at him with a smile that didn't quite touch her eyes, and she waited for his answer.
"Sometimes."
She nodded and turned her attention back to the stars.
"I've been thinking about it a lot lately," she elaborated. "I think that we should stop seeing each other."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, Draco," she murmured, sliding off of the hood.
She took him home for the night, but she didn't return in the morning. When he ventured to their clearing on his broom, she wasn't there.
[I was stopped at a red light just yesterday
Beside a young girl in a Cabriolet
And her eyes were green
And I was in an old scene]
When Draco Malfoy was older, moved out of his parent's and with wife and children, he had a car of his own. There were instances when the vehicle was more convenient than a broom or apparating or using the Floo network. Sometimes it was for the sake of quick errands, and other times it was for a little bit of freedom. A girl from his youth had taught him that one summer. Sometimes he could remember her, but most of the time he just had a vague notion. He was at a red light, sitting in the turn lane with his blinker flashing when a familiar car pulled up beside him. A girl was in the driver's seat, and a blonde boy sat in the passenger's. She turned her head, and their eyes met. She smiled, her green eyes twinkled, and then she was gone.
"Amelia?" He was whirled into the past, remembering when it was just the two of them.
The truck behind him honked, snapping him out of his nostalgia, and he continued toward his destination. It didn't take long for his thoughts to turn back to her and the summer they spent together.
He could see everything in his mind's eye, and it brought tears down his cheeks.
[I was back in that Red Ragtop
On the day she stopped loving me]
Amelia's patience had been short lately. It seemed she couldn't even see him most of the time. So it came as a surprise when she gave him one of her old smiles and led him to her backseat.
After the pregnancy, the two had been extra careful about protection, and this time was no exception.
They were wrapped up in each other in the backseat, just like so many times before. It felt different, though. Ever since the first time, Draco could feel Amelia's emotions, could feel her passion for him. Now, this time, it was cold, loveless sex that gave him little emotional satisfaction.
Amelia dressed silently and then went back to sitting on the hood. Draco watched her as he dressed. He knew she was the change, she was the cold apathy. It hadn't been a lie when he said he could never stop loving her.
She hadn't been bound by such a promise.
[I was back in that Red Ragtop
On the day she stopped loving me]
So I was sort of thinking of trying to write a more in depth Harry Potter story with Amelia, and I'd really appreciate it if I could get feedback on whether that was a good idea or not. Anyway, thanks for reading.